‘Madagascar’ stays on top at weekend B.O.

Newcomers 'Rock of Ages,' 'That's My Boy' debut soft

Holdovers “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” and “Prometheus” again led the B.O. charge with sturdy Stateside soph-sesh perfs over the weekend. But domestic totals dropped at least 15% from last year, as moviegoers were apathetic toward newcomers “Rock of Ages” and “That’s My Boy.”

The Warner Bros. rock-music ensembler managed to score a paltry estimated $15.1 million through Sunday, while Sony’s latest Adam Sandler pic came in with less, at $13 million. Both debut perfs were on the low side of modest pre-weekend expectations.

Paramount-DreamWorks Animation’s “Madagascar” threequel had no trouble winning the world, adding $53 million internationally to its overseas tally of $157 million. The 3D toon grossed $35.5 million in the States, which boosted its domestic cume to $120.5 million. Globally, the film reached a stellar $277.5 million in 12 days.

Fox’s “Prometheus,” meanwhile, fell 60% domestically — slightly steeper than desired — for an estimated take of $20.2 million, bringing its domestic cume to about $89 million. Pic has amassed $217.8 million worldwide.

Bizzers weren’t expecting either newcomer to blow the doors down, but the soft bows for both pics look to affect playability. “Rock of Ages,” budgeted at $75 million (not including marketing), received a unenthusiastic B CinemaScore rating, while “That’s My Boy,” which cost $65 million, scored a B- overall.

International prospects look equally dicey — particularly for “Boy,” since American comedies often don’t travel well outside the U.S. Popularity for Sandler could help; pic tied with “Rock” in Australia (the only overseas territory Sony launched “Boy” at this weekend), where both pics earned $1.4 million. “Rock” totaled $4.1 million from 10 day-and-date markets, including the U.K., which contributed $1.6 million.

Warners prexy of domestic distribution Dan Fellman noted that “Rock” could benefit from targeting mostly women over 25. “Female-skewing movies tend to play better midweek,” Fellman said. “So, we’ll see if we can play a little catch-up.”

Based on the Broadway tuner, “Rock” features music from ’80s bands such as Poison, Def Leppard and Journey. And while Tom Cruise is the biggest star in a larger ensemble that includes Alec Baldwin, Julianne Hough, Russell Brand and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Warners tried to sell “Rock” mainly on nostalgia for the music.

“That’s My Boy,” meanwhile, drew a little more than half of its opening-weekend B.O. from men under 25, which means it’ll be harder for “Boy” to leg out, especially with Fox’s similarly targeted “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” bowing Friday.

Some specialty pics are showing stronger legs; most notably, Focus Features’ “Moonrise Kingdom,” which grossed another $2.2 million this weekend from 178 locations. Pic has cumed $6.8 million after four weeks in the U.S. and Canada. Also expanding, FilmDistrict’s dramedy “Safety Not Guaranteed” averaged a respectable $6,277 from 47 locations, up from nine last weekend. Pic has cumed nearly $500,000 after two weekends.

Thanks to expansions into major markets like Russia, France and Japan, Universal’s “Snow White and the Huntsman” surged 27% internationally, netting an estimated $31.2 million for an overseas cume of $124.6 million. “Huntsman” has totaled about that in the States, giving it nearly $250 million worldwide to date.

Also holding well globally, Sony’s “Men in Black 3″ is approaching $600 million, with a stellar $391.6 million tally overseas.

Paramount’s “The Dictator,” which entered its fifth weekend overseas, landed in the top five with an estimated $4.7 million, off just 2% from the previous weekend. Pic expanded into Italy with just shy of $1 million — top dollar for “Dictator,” though hurt by the country’s struggling economy.

So far, “Dictator” has earned $76.7 million from 35 international territories, which accounts for more than half of the pic’s $134.4 million global cume.